Tag Archives: Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker became a prominent character again after The Last Jedi and while some Star Wars fans highly disliked his story arc there were others, including me, who loved Rian Johnson’s vision for the elderly Jedi Master.

So today on the The Defining Moments I’m going to celebrate his journey throughout the five films that he has graced. Be Warned. This post will be a longread due to Luke’s extensive journey. I thank you for heeding this warning. Now enjoy the post.

1. A Secret Message

Luke was a moisture farmer on Tatooine. While he loved his uncle and aunt so he didn’t complain too much he always dreamed of leaving the desolate planet to go fight for the Rebellion against the Empire. So imagine his immense surprise when he came across the secret message hidden within R2’s insides.

Before him was a hologram of a beautiful princess who was in trouble. His imagination immediately began to run wild as the outside world beyond his sandy home began to slowly enter his life. He had no idea how far that simple message would end up taking him.

2. Staring at the Two Suns

While this is one of the quieter defining moments of Luke’s long journey it is one of the most impactful, for it highlights Luke’s wistfulness to explore new horizons. This was the scene that, I believe, truly began his story and would end up becoming one of the most iconic scenes in Star Wars.

2. Saved By Ben Kenobi

After losing R2-D2 Luke, of course, went to go retrieve the droid but ended up coming across the terrifying and brutal Tusken Raiders. In a scuffle he was knocked unconscious and became their captive, but not for long as he was rescued by the old hermit, Ben Kenobi. Upon waking he learned some fascinating truths, such as Ben Kenobi was, in fact, the same person as Obi-Wan Kenobi who the girl in the message was pleading for help. He had no clue that this simple rescue would lead to the beginning of his destiny.

3. Learning About the Force

In the old man, Kenobi’s home, Luke repaired C-3PO and talked with the elder. They ended up discussing about Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker the Jedi Knight and Darth Vader the murderer of his father, both the same person but Luke wouldn’t know this until later in his life. The most important thing about this scene, however, is when Obi-Wan tells him of the Force for the first time. Luke doesn’t fully understand what he’s talking about but he will. He will.

Star Wars is a marvelous and magical franchise jam packed with exciting moments, beautiful locations, and iconic, lovable characters and today I’m going to share with you my favorite quotes from the various films’ many hilarious and epic moments.

This is one of the most iconic quotes in movie history and it really set in motion a whole lot of events. Luke going to find Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan showing Luke a lightsaber for the first time and telling him about the Force, and the eventual decision that Luke made, due to his uncle and aunt being murdered by the Empire, to learn to become a Jedi. Without that secret message delivered by Princess Leia events would’ve gone unknown and the still extending story of Star Wars would not be here today. This is a pretty incredible quote in Star Wars.

12. “I know.” (Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back)

The love story between Han Solo and Princess Leia is one of the greatest (I believe the greatest) love stories in science fiction history and the defining moment of their relationship was when Han was faced with possible death as he was going to be frozen in carbonite. When Leia told him, “I love you” he was originally going to say, “I love you too” but thanks to Harrison Ford’s profound understanding of the character he said they should change his line and turn it into, “I know.”

Han is such a cocky, self-confident and slightly narcissistic man so of course he would say to her, “I know.” And that’s why this is one of the most genius “I love you too” responses ever. It totally speaks to Han’s character and it is the sweetest thing he has ever said. This is already an impactful moment in the movie but when I found out Harrison Ford was the one who changed that moment, for the better, it became that much more magical of a scene.

11. “I am fluent in over six million forms of communication.” (C-3PO)

I can’t tell you how many times C-3PO has said to people this hilarious quote but that’s why it’s so funny. Not only does it convey that the protocol droid can well, speak in six million forms of communication, but it’s hilarious because C-3PO is so proud of that and he doesn’t hide his pride of that fact either. C-3PO may be a droid but he definitely is the funniest droid ever created.

The Last Jedi has been out for over a month and it’s finally starting to marinate, meaning all of its ideas and hidden Easter eggs are starting to be discovered and analyzed. And as I’ve thought about this film and all of its scenarios I realized this is the first Star Wars movie that I feel didn’t have a concrete villain and that’s exciting. We can’t have franchises with one-dimensional villains in all of its movies (I’m talking about you Marvel) because that is what makes a franchise boring. If you can predict the outcome of every movie then what’s the point in watching it? Well, Rian Johnson didn’t take that approach. In fact, he killed off the one-dimensional villain in the movie, Supreme Leader Snoke, to give Kylo Ren the top baddies spot and make him a more complex character. Genius!

Rian Johnson also muddied the line between good and evil in the film by making the good characters look bad at times and the bad characters look good. I love the trend of these grey Star Wars movies. Rogue One blurred the lines of good and evil and The Last Jedi took that concept to the next level. So, because of that, who ended up being the true villain of The Last Jedi? Here are the three people in the film that had villainous tendencies in the movie.

Early last year I wrote a post about my ten favorite Star Wars characters and at the time Rogue One had been out for a little less than two months, I had just recently discovered that Episode VIII was going to be called The Last Jedi, and I simply had an entirely different view on Star Wars as a whole.

Now, I’m updating the list and because there are so many more characters that I like I’m extending the list to my fifteen favorite characters. Enjoy!

15. Cad Bane

Cad Bane is undoubtedly one of the coolest bounty hunters that I have ever seen in Star Wars. He has this Country-Western sort of vibe with the twang of his voice and, obviously, his outfit. He’s also one of the slipperiest bounty hunters that I’ve ever seen. It seemed that every time he was about to be captured he got away. Ugh.

Whenever he showed up on a Clone Wars episode I always got extra interested because usually when he appeared it meant that something serious was about to go down. There are a lot of characters in Star Wars but he managed to become one of my favorite characters.

14. Finn

Finn is such a great character. He was the first ex-stormtrooper to appear in a Star Wars movie and I loved his growth throughout The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. In Episode VII he was much more unsure of himself and his heroic actions were based solely off of emotion. In Episode VIII he learned what it meant to be a hero and while he was at first hesitant to take that responsibility by the end of the film he was a full blown Resistance fighter willing to do anything for the cause. I can’t wait to see the final leg of his journey in Episode IX.

13. Chirrut Imwe

Chirrut is awesome for so many reasons. He’s the first blind character to be in a Star Wars movie, he was the first person to possess the Force as strong as he did and not be a Jedi or a Sith, and he was one of the first major Asian characters to be in a Star Wars movie. Even though he’s in only one movie he was so incredible that he forever wiggled his way into my heart.

12. Poe Dameron

A lot of people couldn’t stand Poe in The Last Jedi and yes, at times he was very brash, but he’s one of my favorite characters in Star Wars simply because he’s such an incredible pilot. Whenever he gets into a cockpit and starts piloting a ship, whether it’s a Tie Fighter or an X-Wing, I always get so happy. When he whoops with exhilaration after performing something incredible I always pump my fist along with him because of my excitement. Poe, I’m sure due to the events in The Last Jedi, will be a great leader in Episode IX but I hope we’ll get some more piloting action from him.

The Last Jedi has been out for over a month and it’s still being hotly debated by fans around the world for some of its various scenarios and unsuspected character developments. Now The Last Jedi was one of the highest anticipated films of 2017 and it ended up becoming the highest grossing film of last year because, well, it’s Star Wars. And while it was a box office success there were a lot of fans who felt that it was one of the worst Star Wars movies ever made and then there were others who appreciated Rian Johnson’s vision and the gutsy choices he made in the movie. Now, I’ve been on both sides of the spectrum.

When I first watched The Last Jedi on opening day I was one of the viewers who utterly despised nearly everything about the film. I thought they had undermined Finn and had left his character development to the back burner, I was upset that they had killed Snoke without giving us a hint of his back story, I couldn’t believe Luke was dead, and I thought the movie was overall pretty terrible.

Then I watched it a second time and I was profoundly shocked. The movie was amazing, the character developments were perfect, and I completely understood everything Rian was trying to achieve with this film. I couldn’t believe how different an experience it was watching the movie the second time and I realized what had made me dislike the film so much the first time.

I had gone into the theater the first time with a pre-conceived notion about how the film was going to be and when it ended up becoming a movie entirely different from what I expected I felt slightly betrayed. I was legitimately upset and I thought Rian Johnson had completely torn up the foundation The Force Awakens had created but when I saw it for the second time I realized that Rian’s entire goal was to move the story forward and erase that nostalgic feeling its predecessor had. I highly appreciate that.

It’s hilarious. People were upset that The Force Awakens was too much like A New Hope and now they’re upset that The Last Jedi did decide to move beyond the past and become its own movie. That’s ironic.

Now, I’m going to convey my opinion on all of the hotly debated topics that have divided fans for the past month. Enjoy!

Rian Johnson’s main goal in The Last Jedi was to move Star Wars beyond the past and into the future by tearing down some of its strongest foundations such as pretending that the Jedi are the galaxy’s almighty saints when really their foolish confidence allowed Emperor Palpatine to create an army right beneath their noses that ended up destroying them. Or taking away the kind perception of Luke Skywalker and turning him into a flawed man who had lost all hope in what he claimed he believed in the most the last time we saw him; the Jedi. Or simply erasing the idea of the Jedi altogether by having Yoda strike lightning on Ach-To’s force tree. Now we know Rey had already taken the ancient Jedi relics from within the trees confines but the idea of the Jedi is what Yoda caused to go up in a spout of flames.

And there were many more ideas Rian destroyed from its predecessor, The Force Awakens, such as Snoke. He completely busted all of our theoretical bubbles by killing him out of the movie in an even less ceremonious fashion than Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace. He obliterated the idea that Rey was the daughter of someone special. And he nearly wiped out the entire Resistance to make the First Order the new rulers of the galaxy.

But while all of these larger ideas and characters were being torn asunder I completely didn’t realize that one of the most iconic pieces of Star Wars history had also been destroyed right under our noses and that is the annihilation of Luke’s lightsaber. Yes, the lightsaber.

The lightsaber that graced this epic Star Wars poster in 1977. The first lightsaber that was ever seen in Star Wars. The lightsaber that had survived four movies, five wielders, and had even been reclaimed by Luke from the lost depths of the gaseous planet, Bespin, has finally found its end in, unsurprisingly, The Last Jedi.

Star Wars is known for its inspiring characters and The Last Jedi continues that tradition by taking old and new characters and elevating their story for the better. I’m here to talk about all of the characters’ development and how excited I am for their stories moving forward. Enjoy!

SPOILER ALERT! I’m about to delve into spoiler territory so if you haven’t seen The Last Jedi yet I advise you to discontinue reading this now. Thank you for heeding my warning and I hope you enjoy.

Captain Phasma

One of the few things that wasn’t perfect in The Last Jedi was, unfortunately, Captain Phasma. I mean there was nothing exactly wrong with her involvement in The Last Jedi. She served her purpose and she helped better the movie with an awesome showdown against Finn. It is upsetting to see that once again they didn’t incorporate her into the story more than they did considering how amazing of a character she is.

If I was in charge of Captain Phasma’s story I would’ve had her see Finn and Rose escape the destroyed Star Destroyer and vow to stop them. Then when the First Order would’ve invaded Crait I would’ve had her face Finn out there on the Crait battlefield directly after Rose saved him which would have been so awesome. Finn, of course, would have won but that would’ve made for a very incredible duel.

Despite the lack of use of her character yet again Captain Phasma will always be one of my favorite characters in Star Wars.